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Hello! we will be in St Maarten or St Martin I guess (we will be staying on the french side) for a couple weeks during Feb 08. I have a few questions to those that may be better informed than I.
1 - For offshore fishing, what would be fishing well this time of year and any recomondations for a charter captain?
2 - Thinking of renting our own craft, any suggestions for who to deal with and locations to fish inshore?
3 - I hear Simpson bay lagoon is full of Tarpon as well as the salt ponds. Suggestions on Techniques and locations would be huge!
I'm a bit of a newbie at this type of fishing, my history is still water trout and offshore salmon fishing in BC where I have lived all my life. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to help this newbie out..
I highly recommend you stay on the Dutch side. Much nicer and less crime. If you rent a car and take it to the French side they will tell you to leave it unlocked with the windows down and leave nothing in it - it will get broken into!
Shoot me your email in a pm and I'll have my Dad hook you up. He's friends with the governor of the dutch side and it is his favorite island in the Carribbean.
LOCK everything up and don't walk on the beach at night, you will get beaten and robbed. Day is safer, look out for vendors that will pick pocket you and steal your stuff on the beach.
We spent a week on Saint Martin in Grand Case last January. Our experience was it is a wonderfull place. Great food, be sure to try the Lolos on the beach for lobster and spicy ribs. Very friendly people who switch from French to English as soon as you they hear you speak english. I was not prepared to like the
French but they quickly changed my mind.
We experienced no crime or unpleasant situations at all and we were out every night driving and walking. Of all the islands we stayed on (St. Thomas, St. John, Torotola, and the Dominican Republic), Saint Martin was the best. Try http://home.carolina.rr.com/esgenera...eReference.htm for a overview of Grand Case, Le Petit is a great small hotel on the beach. http://www.lepetithotel.com/main.php?index.php
I would love to try fishing there. Our fishing experience is similar to yours in Prince William Sound Alaska for salmon and halibit
Please see this post, I put most of my SXM info on there. I lived there for 2 years and know the island very well, let me know if you need any additional info.
PS, in the 2 years I was there, there were many petty thefts at the beaches - ie, don't leave your wallet on your towel when you go for a swim! But I NEVER heard of someone attacked at night.
He said a place called "Banana's" by Simpson Bay is great, and that there is a steak house by the same bay that you should avoid (I hope it's not ribs mentioned earlier). He mentioned a bunch of other places and said that there is no problem finding great cuisine. Also said to check out "Cheri's" an open air / live music place and restraunt.
He doesn't know about fishing, hope that helps.
Oh yeah, he said it is somewhat common for restraunts to add a 15% service charge AND a 15% tip to the bill, or add the service chargem, and still expect a tip FYI.
Lee's - sorry, I wouldn't recommend them to charter. To eat lunch there, yes! Try their wahoo, mahi, or tuna, nice and fresh.
Banana's - pretty dang good food, best burger on the island, and they have some GREAT baked or grilled lobster for the cheapest prices around.
Cheri's - Tourist trap, but I guess the cross dresser's are funny....if you're into that. Their food is a step up from fast food.
All 3 of these places are in Simpson Bay, they might be a good ways from you depending on where you stay. Where exactly are you staying?
If you want some really good eats in that same area, go to Halsey's. It has fancy food at good prices. There is a 'floating bar' next door to Halseys, it's a sailboat built into a bar. A must to visit.
If you like to spend a lot of money on food, $50-$100 a plate dinners on the French side are a dime a dozen and are no doubt the best places to eat in the Caribbean. Grand Case is loaded with great food, arguably some of the best in the world.....just too pricey for me!
Other places to check out since you're there for a long time - Sunset bar at the end of the airport - MUST see. Loterie farms for a hike and awesome lunch, just on the French side near Marigot. Cliffhanger bar in Cupecoy, right up the road from where I lived. This is a cool old bar hanging over the Caribbean, very nice and you can see the 'green flash' sunset almost every day there.
I could go on and on and on, feel free to ask any more questions.
Oh yeah, boat rentals. There's really only one place that I would recommend. You can rent dinghys up to their biggest, an 18' Century....at least that was the biggest when I lived there. I forget the name of the place, but it was immediately connected to Dive Adventures in Simpson Bay. Honestly, the nearshore fishing there isn't that great and I would NOT rent a boat to fish, just to cruise. Actually, there is something next to Lee's called "Rhino Rides", it's a small jet ski dinghy type boat for 2 people, you follow a guid a little ways around the island and snorkel. It was something like $50 each for a couple hours, good bang for the buck.
Thanks all for your feedback. We have been to the island before and are becoming more familiar with how most island things work and also have experienced many excellent (and a few bad) restaurants / bars including some mentioned.. All advice given is appreciated. Thanks!
BigBaitBigFish – Your original post on this subject is what got me here in the first time! I was hoping for more feedback on fishing opportunities in the area as we are definitely gonna charter a boat for a day or two if it is good. The description of the tarpon fishing sounded right up my alley too. Lol. As I will trust my charter captain (whom I am looking for still) to put me into fish and supply appropriate equipment & techniques, it is the tarpon fishing I need more advise on I guess… What weight rods and what lures are most successful? How about technique? I heard you have to strip strike them to get the hook to set into the plates in their mouth. I have a good friend who is willing to hook me up with proper fly rod / reel / line / flies as he has fished them in Cuba before. Kinda hoping to simplify things and not bring fly gear… Can you or anyone else fill in a few blanks for me? I got a feeling it isn’t like trout fishing... Thanks again!
Did you contact the charter captain I recommended in the other post? I would go with him only, or someone he recommends.
There is no fly fishing for tarpon, leave that gear at home! The only way to catch the lagoon tarpon is with fresh meat, although I guess I jumped a few big boys on top dawgs. They are only near the docks, and the 2 I landed (after losing about 50+ on pilings, moorings, etc) I had to re-spool my TLD with 300 lb line to keep them out of the structure! Yeah, spooling 100' of 300lb on that reel was pretty funny. Got a nice 80 lber though.
For the salt ponds - I tried every lure known to man in there, and one stood head and shoulders above the others - a gold Johnson spoon. The weedless kind, not the sprite with trebles. I think a spinning/casting 12 lb combo is perfect. I used lighter a few times, but you'll want a little more heft if you hook into one of the bigger 30 lb ones. I would use 30 lb mono leader, or a little heavier, and bring a dozen or so spoons. The best way I found to hook into they 'landfill poons' was to wait until you see one roll (they are ALWAYS rolling, you just have to see one rolling in your range) then cast in front of it. They like to sun themselves near the shoreline too, and I would just drop the spoon in front of them. Blind casting worked ok too. Look at my other post for info on where to fish, I had a few 'honey holes'.
I read bigbaits december post, and stayed on the french side about 5 years back--we loved it, beautiful beach . I fortunately brought an eight wt fly rod with me and caught a very large bonefish ( est 12-13+lbs, 31" based on my rod ). It was in an area that had an old Arboritum -sp? I saw many large snook under boats, and tarpon free jumping in a pond going from the French to Dutch side. Didnt do much offshore but saw pod of small tunas. There is a beach with a rocky point on the french side down beach from La Sammana that a local captain told me hold permit that cannot be taken by rod and reel, he told me they call them Crabla's or something similar because all they eat are crabs. He also mentioned something about Bonefish on the old salt flats--never got there. Good luck.
Actualy, yes, he answered my 2nd email to him and He is taking us out next week. Looking farward to it. Thanks for hooking us up!
I do have a couple more questions:
1 - The gold Johnson weedless spoons, what sizes were working well for you? My wife works for the biggest sporting goods wholesaler here in western Canada and knows the Pure fishing rep so I will pick up a selection of them.
2 - Do I need a fishing license? If so, where would I pick one up?
Leaving BC this coming Friday afternoon, overnight in Toronto then strait to SXM. Looking forward to some good times on the beachs and hopefully some fantastic fishing.. Oh yea!
Wow, never saw or caught any 'crabalas' on that point, that point is on Plum bay (Baie de Prune' or something like that on the signs), my favorite spearfishing area, but we did see some very large african pompano there. That is the spot that we found a large school of bonefish that wouldn't take any kind of bait or lure. We swam over them everytime we went spearfishing. I am not lying when I say some of them were 20+ lbs, they were HUGE! All they did was swim in a large circle in about 12' of water, we would sit on the bottom and watch them swim by.
SKG - no, do not need a license, grab a few different sizes of the spoons, make sure they are gold and weedless. Spoon size won't matter much, I would opt for the 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz sizes. I tried all of them, I think I liked the 1/2 oz the best but don't remember. Just bring a few of each. Also bring a few mirrolure top dawgs in the red/white color, see if you can get any topwater hits, those are a blast. What area are you staying in?
BigbaitBigfish, Thanks for the info. We are staying at the Mercure. On the other side of Simpson bay lagoon between Marigot and Baie Rouge. Smaller place and a bit quieter than anything over in Maho. BTW, you mentioned cliffhangers, great place... spent a few evenings there and sure we will again this time around. Know any secret beaches you want to share? We have explored quite a bit, Happy bay is pretty cool.. Wouldnt mind doing some snorkleing too but hear it is poor. Any ideas? Also, I have been told the offshore fishing is hit and miss this time of year as well. What has your experience been? Thanks again!
Well, if you have been to Happy Bay, you've been to the most secluded beach on the island! I only went there a few times to dive for lobster during the day, it's a long swim to see anything special there though. The beach by cliffhangers used to be awesome, but those resorts that are up there now were not there when I lived on the island. We used to go to the caves below and have our own mini beach for hours. Be careful going to the beaches a little farther down aka cupecoy beach, that is a very OPENLY gay beach! Not that I have anything against that.
Since you're in that area, I would recommend snorkeling in Plum Bay (Baie de Prune?). Have you been there? It can be tough to find. If you make it to that bay, there's a very nice beach that is pretty secluded, really only the locals go there. As you're facing the water, swim out to the point on the right and go out a ways from there. That is where I did 90% of my lobstering and spearfishing during the day, it gets deep quick about 500' out from the point. There are also nice tropicals to see if you swim down the shoreline on the left. If the swells are up, great surfing in the middle of that bay too!
I've heard Baie Rouge has awesome snorkeling, but I never went. My wife went there with her friends and saw lots of tropicals and lobster.
Offshore fishing is hit or miss all year round, but the wahoo should be thicker in Feb than any other time if I remember correctly...so are the small tuna. Email my charter guy and ask him what's running, I know he has put out some serious FAD's since I've been there and his catch has improved dramatically, especially for mahi. When I was there, we never caught a mahi under 20 lbs....and some days we caught plenty of them.
Oh, make sure you go to Loterie Farms, it's in your neck of the woods. That would be my #1 or #2 recommendation overall on the island. Take the hike then eat lunch there, I highly recommend the wasabi tuna wrap!
Yes, it was your guy that told me it was slow this time of year.. We will see I guess. Am used to hot and cold fishing here on the west coast where often you have your limit of all salmon species available and halibut too before lunch and other days when all you kill is the beer.
lol. Heard about cupecoy, to each their own I guess... living in the Vancouver area that is something you get used too pretty quick. Havent been further than just at the access point I parked at once. Havent been to plum bay yet either but it is on my list for this trip, as is petite cayes and Pinel island, probably Anguilla as well.. Am sure we can find our way to plum bay by trial and error. Half the fun is exploring. My notes say to take falaise des oiseux rd (bird cliffs?) I think this would be somewhere between Baie Rouge and Maho. Sound about right to you?
Loterie Farms is on the list as well. Wasabi Tuna sounds fabulous.. Last trip we avoided most of the tourist destinations and really just did beaches. Got more time to kill this time so will do much more.
BigbaitBigfish, Seems I am all out of questions. THANKS. Will try to post some pics when I return and hopefully the fishing will be memorable.
Oops, well if Roland says it is slow, it will probably be slow! I just looked up my records, and we took a Feb charter in '05 and caught a few nice dolphin, a small wahoo, and a bunch of small skipjack tuna. The pic in the other thread was from that trip.
Plum bay - I have no idea what the road name is, but I know it is down by La Semana. You can't see the beach from the road, you access it from a path surrounded by about 10-15 parking spots. To narrow it down, it is between Bay Rouge and Long Bay. There is a guard shack out on the main road that you enter from and it goes in a large circle. See this map, it actually shows the roads pretty good:
You will see those salt ponds along the road if you're in front of long bay, the roads feel a LOT longer than they look on that map! Probably has something to do with driving my Atos over speedbumps every 20 feet....
Pinel is fun, nice and relaxing but very crowded. Anguilla is nice too, but see if you can find a sailboat cruise over to Tintamare island, you could do that on the Golden Eagle (I think that's the name?) for about $50 per person.
Loterie farms is a hole in the wall, not touristy! Make sure you go there!
It is touristy, but I still love to sit at Sunset Beach bar and watch the jets take off and land. And yes, I was once one of those fools that stood behind a 747 before takeoff! I know they have extended the runway now, but still think they back up to the fence before takeoff.
St Maarten fishing opportunities 
